In the game of tennis, of the major shots used in the game, the back hand shot generally is regarded as the most difficult shot to master. This is true mainly because the backhand shot creates the sensation that the back of the hand holding the racket is used to hit the shot, and people are not accustomed to using the backs of their hands for many functional purposes on or off the tennis court. They are, however, generally accustomed to using the front of their hands or their palms every day for a variety of purposes. Consequently, tennis players generally have a forehand shot that is much stronger than their backhand shot because that shot seems more natural, since it involves the front or palm of the hand.
To improve their backhands, many players use both hands, which, to some extent, creates the sensation of using the front, or palm, of the second, or opposite, hand. In addition, two hands allow the player to control the racket better, although at the sacrifice of the power and flexibility achievable with a one-handed backhand stroke. With conventional tennis rackets, a two-handed backhand requires that one hand be placed above the other on the single handle of the racket, a method of gripping the racket that limits the player's ability to snap or pronate the wrists through the ball during the shot to generate more power. To compensate for this limitation, two-handed players typically tend to involve their bodies, especially the left shoulders for right-handed players, to a large extent during the swing. Thus, they rotate their shoulders more on both the back-swing and the follow through, and they lean their left shoulders further forward into the shot, all in an effort to increase power. Such movement, especially the use of the left shoulder, can be tiring and often can cause soreness in that shoulder.
In addition, conventional single-handled rackets limit a player's ability to hit a two-handed backhand shot out in front of the body where an aggressive, offensive backhand is hit best. The two-handed grip used with a single-handled racket limits a player's reach because one hand has to grip the handle closer to the throat of the racket, and hence closer to the hitting area thereof. Consequently, on a two handed shot the ability of the player to reach and hit a tennis ball in front of the body is limited.
A two-handled tennis racket, which allows the player to hit a forehand ground-stroke from either side of the body is an alternative method for overcoming the inherent limitations of the backhand shot. U.S. Pat. No. 2,795,426 to Wood discloses a dual handled tennis racket comprising two handles aligned in a plane transverse to the plane of the racket head. With this racket, the right hand is used to hit a forehand from the right side of the body and the left hand is used to hit a forehand from the left side of the body. However, such a design tends to create some instability in the racket as a result of the lateral displacement of most of the weight of the racket a relatively large distance from the grip that is used for each shot.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,030 to Burt discloses a dual handled tennis racket comprising two handles aligned in a plane parallel or coincident with the plane of the racket head. This racket, like the racket of Wood, is designed for one of the grips to be grasped by the right hand for hitting a forehand on the right side of the body, and for the other grip to be grasped by the left hand for hitting a forehand on the left side of the body. However, such a design tends to limit a player's ability to hit the ball out in front of the body, due to the alignment of the handles with the racket head.
Conventional single-handled tennis rackets also limit a player's ability to hit many forehand shots, such as the forehand ground-stroke, the serve, and the forehand volley, out in front of the body. A tennis player can stroke the tennis ball earlier, with the player's weight behind the shot, and in a better position to see the opponent and the court when the tennis ball is hit out in front of the body. The alignment of the head of a conventional racket with the handle does not assist in stroking the tennis ball early.
Thus, a need exists for a racket designed for use by tennis players who use two-handed backhands that frees up the wrists to snap the racket through the ball, thereby increasing the potential for generating power, and reducing the amount of strain caused by the use of conventional single-handled rackets. A need also exists for a tennis racket that aids in stroking the tennis ball in front of the body for both forehand and backhand shots.